FICKLIN, Orlando Bell, a Representative from Illinois; born in Scott County, Ky., December
16, 1808; attended the common schools; was graduated from Transylvania Law
School, Lexington, Ky., in 1830; was admitted to the bar in 1830 and commenced
practice in Mount Carmel, Ill.; served in the Black Hawk War as quartermaster
in 1832; colonel of the militia of Wabash County in 1833; States attorney for
the Wabash circuit in 1835; member of the State house of representatives in
1835, 1838, and 1842; moved to Charleston, Ill., in 1837; elected as a Democrat
to the Twenty-eighth, Twenty-ninth, and Thirtieth Congresses (March 4,
1843-March 3, 1849); chairman, Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds
(Twenty-ninth Congress); elected to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4,
1851-March 3, 1853); chairman, Committee on District of Columbia (Thirty-second
Congress); resumed the practice of law in Charleston; delegate to the
Democratic National Convention in 1856, at Charleston, S.C., in 1860, and at
Chicago in 1864; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1869 and
1870; again served in the State house of representatives in 1878; died in
Charleston, Ill., May 5, 1886; interment in Mound Cemetery.